Toys for Tickets

Toys for Tickets is back for 2016, and once again SMU faculty, staff and students can redeem unpaid parking tickets while helping to make the holidays brighter for children.

Created by SMU Parking and ID Card Services Office, the annual citation-forgiveness program offers campus community members the opportunity to pay off unpaid parking tickets by donating toys of equal or greater value.

To participate in the Toys for Tickets exchange, drivers must bring their parking tickets and a receipt for the toys by Wednesday, Nov. 30, 2016 to the Parking and ID Card Services Office in Hughes-Trigg Student Center between 8:30 a.m. and 5 p.m. Monday-Friday (closed during the 2016 Thanksgiving holiday, Nov. 24-25).

The SMU Staff Association (SMUSA) is also collecting toys ranging from board games to remote control cars for its 2016 Holiday Toy Drive. The drive will continue through Wednesday, Nov. 30.

Once again, both Toys for Tickets and the SMUSA Holiday Toy Drive will benefit children served by the Dallas Children’s Advocacy Center (DCAC), a United Way partner agency. All donated toys must be new, unwrapped, nonviolent and child-appropriate.

Toys for the SMUSA drive can be donated at the following collection locations:

Organizers of SMU’s 2016 United Way Campaign are seeking to raise awareness of how a little money can go a long way for the agencies and programs it supports. This year’s campaign takes place from Nov. 1-30.

Individuals can make their donations either directly to the United Way or to a partner agency of their choice through their personalized United eWay login, which will be sent each week in November via e-mail.

This year, the SMU campaign’s Day of Impact volunteer opportunity will take place at the Dallas Children’s Advocacy Center (DCAC), according to SMU co-chairs Paul Krueger and Tim Norris. DCAC provides investigation, intervention and treatment services, free of charge, for more than 4,000 of Dallas’ most severely abused children and non-offending family members.

The 2016 campaign also includes a return of the popular Toys for Tickets program from Nov. 1-30, presented by the SMU Staff Association and SMU Parking and ID Card Services. Faculty, staff and students can redeem their unpaid parking tickets in exchange for new, nonviolent, unwrapped toys of equal or greater value. All donations will go to DCAC.

As an added bonus, the SMU Parking and ID Card Services Office offers campus community members the opportunity to pay off unpaid parking tickets by donating toys of equal or greater value. To participate in the Toys for Tickets exchange, drivers must bring their parking tickets and a receipt for the toys by Monday, Dec. 21, 2015 to the Parking and ID Card Services Office located in Expressway Tower, Suite 101, between 8:30 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday-Friday.

SMUSA is accepting new, non-violent, unwrapped toys ranging from board games to remote control cars. The Staff Association encourages participants to keep in mind that all donations must be child-appropriate.

Toys can be donated at the following collection locations through Friday, Dec. 19:

Blanton Building – 1st floor by the elevator

DallasHall – 1st floor stairwell landing

Expressway Tower – Parking and ID Card Services, Suite 101

Fondren Library Center – 1st floor near the circulation desk

Umphrey Lee Center – 3rd floor, Suite 301

6200 N. Central Expressway – Development and External Affairs

As an added bonus for a kind gesture, the SMU Parking and ID Card Services Office offers campus community members the opportunity to pay off unpaid parking tickets by donating toys of equal or greater value. To participate in the Toys for Tickets exchange, drivers must bring their parking tickets and a receipt for the toys by Friday, Dec. 19, 2014 to the Parking and ID Card Services Office located in Expressway Tower, Suite 101, between 8:30 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday-Friday.

SMUSA is accepting nonviolent, unwrapped toys ranging from dolls and action figures and related accessories, to board and handheld games and puzzles. All items should be new and unused, as well as appropriate for children.

The mission of the Dallas Children’s Advocacy Center is “to improve the lives of abused children in Dallas County and to provide national leadership on child abuse issues,” according to its website. In addition, DCAC coordinates the investigation and prosecution of severe cases of child abuse. Last year, the Center served more than 2,400 children (and their nonoffending family members) who were sexually abused, severely physically abused, or had witnessed a violent crime.

Park ’N Pony has renewed its partnership with SMUSA on the successful Toys for Tickets program, created in 2011 by Parking and ID Card Services Director Mark Rhodes. For the second consecutive year, each person who brings a toy directly to the Parking and ID Card Services Office for donation will be entered in a drawing to win $50 added to their Pony Express account.

Through Thursday, Dec. 19, SMU faculty, staff and students may pay off outstanding campus parking tickets with new, nonviolent, unwrapped toys of a value equal to or greater than the cost of the ticket(s). All toys will be contributed to SMUSA’s 2013 toy drive.

Toys For Tickets dismissals apply only to unpaid SMU parking tickets issued for unauthorized parking, parking without a permit, over-time parking or improper display of a permit. To participate, bring your parking tickets and a receipt for the toys to Parking and ID Card Services, Suite 101, Expressway Tower between 8:30 a.m. and 5 p.m. Monday-Friday.